A short distance away, a beautiful teenage girl, almost unconscious from drink, is being held upright by a friend.

While thousands of students enjoyed a good-natured evening celebrating their grades, a small minority will remember last night for all the wrong reasons.

Another girl sits slumped on a footpath as the celebratory drinking appears to catch up with her.

Elsewhere there were violent scenes as mobs of drunken teenagers fought pitched battles after closing time.

On Middle Abbey Street fights erupted among teenagers who were clearly the worse for wear.

Many girls lay in collapsed states of drunkenness around the centre of town, others lay slouched on footpaths and in shop doorways.

Trouble occurred outside the Twisted Pepper nightclub as two gangs of youths, who it’s understood were refused admission to the popular club, fought with each other.

Gardai managed to restore order but tensions remained high. In another incident a young man tried to attack bouncers who refused him admission to the Middle Abbey Street club, before he was arrested.

Tensions

What should have been a night of celebration and good humour turned to mayhem for some after thousands of teens hit the streets. As pubs closed tensions began to run high.

Hundreds queued at one popular nightclub and became increasingly agitated when it became obvious |they were not getting in.

Tensions ran high, with bouncers clearly not admitting anyone they perceived be unruly. An eye-witness told the Herald: “The bouncers weren’t letting one of them in, and he [an aggressive male] was having none of it so he got angry – then it all kicked off.”

Another fracas broke out between a group of young men outside The Twisted Pepper and approximately five gardai broke up the fight, as our photos reveal.

Dozens of gardai were seen patrolling Middle Abbey Street and O’Connell Street, as youths went from one club to another looking to gain entry.

Some youths were so intoxicated that friends were running into fast food outlets to bring food and water to them to sober them up.

One drunken reveller fell out of a hired limo and spent five minutes trying to regain her balance on her four-inch heels.

Her friends told the Herald that they’d been drinking |since the early evening when they gathered in a friend’s house.

Another girl from the inner city, joked: “I’m expecting to go home with no legs tonight.

“It’s two euro a drink where we’re going.”

Mood

The mood was light for other teens who came into town early and gained access to the city’s nightclubs determined to dance the night away.

“We started drinking at midday in a friend’s house,” said a student from Tallaght. “I’m delighted with my results.”

“We’ll be out until tomorrow morning,” added an 18-year-old boy, also from Tallaght, who intended finding another party to go after the clubs closed.